Blizzard Pick up Big Victory in Conference Race
April 29, 2012 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Green Bay Blizzard News Release
The Green Bay Blizzard (6-2) welcomed the Bloomington Edge (7-2) into the Resch Center on Saturday night for a key battle between United Conference playoff contenders. Bolstered by a pair of scores courtesy of their defense and special teams and another record-breaking performance on the ground from La'Ron Council, the Blizzard pulled into a virtual tie with the Edge in the race for second-place and home field advantage in the playoffs. Green Bay kicker Adrian Trevino got the scoring started by booting a 34-yard field goal on the game's opening possession. Bloomington immediately answered with a 7-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Rusty Burk to John Cooper. The Blizzard crossed midfield on their ensuing possession, but again had to settle for another Trevino boot, this time from 32 yards, to pull within a point. After a fake field goal attempt by the Edge was thwarted by the Blizzard defense, Donovan Porterie connected with Bryan Pray on a beautiful diving touchdown reception to secure a 13-7 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter began with the Blizzard stuffing a Bloomington rush attempt for a loss on 4th and 1. Council then made his first entry into the scoring column with an impressive 28-yard touchdown scamper and the Blizzard pulled ahead 20-7. By the end of the game Council had again surpassed the Blizzard single game rushing record, which he set two weeks ago, by gaining 113 yards on the ground. That total is good for second-best in the league this season. At this point, Bloomington made a big push to get back in the game beginning with a 23 yard field goal by kicker Pete Christofilakas. Burk then hit receiver Ricardo Lenhart in the end zone on a 29-yard strike to cut the Green Bay lead to 3. Then, an errant shotgun snap led Council to be called for intentional grounding in the end zone, giving the Edge defense a safety.
Sensing the momentum starting to shift in Bloomington's favor Jordan Lardinois and the defense answered the call. Lardinois knocked the football out of Burk's hands as he left the pocket resulting in the ball rolling into the end zone, where it was recovered for a score by fellow lineman P.J. South. On the next Edge possession Lardinois again stripped Burk leading to a loss of yards and forcing Bloomington to miss a long field goal attempt two plays later. With less than ten seconds remaining in the half, Porterie found John Halman for one final score to take a 34-19 lead into the break. Referring to his consecutive impact plays Lardinois credited his fellow defensive linemen saying, "If we, as a line, remain in our pass rush lanes and stay aggressive it leads to big plays for our defense and I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time tonight."
The Edge and Blizzard traded scores back and forth throughout the third quarter beginning with a booming 51-yard field goal by Christofilakos. Council scored on a 2-yard run on the next drive to push the lead back to 41-22. Dusty Burk finally found some openings in the Green Bay secondary, throwing TD passes of 25 and 9 yards to David Brown and Charles Dowdell respectively. Dowdell, a reserve quarterback, had a big night catching the ball as he was on the receiving end of three Burk touchdown passes. In between those Edge scores the Blizzard received a scoring pass of their own, courtesy of a Bryan Pray 7-yard TD reception. As a result, the Blizzard held a 12 point lead heading to the final quarter. A wild fourth quarter began with Porterie sneaking into the end zone from inside the one yard line for a 55-36 lead. Burk then hit Dowdell in the end zone for a second time on the night, but B.J. Hill returned the ensuing kickoff 52 yards to the house to answer immediately. Burk then found Dowdell a final time to give the Edge a slight hope of a comeback. That hope was squashed when Council burst across the goal line from a yard out to regain a 69-50 lead with 1:19 left. The Edge scored with just over a minute to play on a Ricardo Lenhart touchdown reception of six yards.
The Blizzard defense came into play Saturday night having allowed the second-fewest points in the IFL and continued to impress against the Edge. They held the Bloomington offense to just 13 rushing yards on eight carries and only allowed one third down conversion in eight attempts. In his return to the Blizzard starting lineup, linebacker Greg "The Hammer" Jackson led the defense with eight tackles. The Blizzard offense remained a balanced attack, gaining 136 yards through the air and 115 on the ground. Head coach Robert Fuller said that the success of LaRon Council in the rushing game, "opens up the playbook for him and makes his job easy."
These same two squads will meet next week Saturday in Bloomington at 7:00 p.m. in another important United Conference showdown. Fuller believes that the talent that Bloomington brings to the table will result in a great week of preparation and solid game plan going into the rematch.
Indoor Football League Stories from April 29, 2012
- Colorado Ice Remain Undefeated against Wyoming Cavalry - Colorado Crush
- Colorado Ice Add 4 Players to Boost Roster - Colorado Crush
- Blizzard Pick up Big Victory in Conference Race - Green Bay Blizzard
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